Evelyn Reid
by 398
Summary: Evelyn Reid is a powerful muggle-born Slytherin student of Hogwarts in the same year as Rose and the rest. This story is about her first year, where she befriends and beenimies some cannon characters and goes on assorted adventures. NEXT GENERATION
1. Chapter 1: Preparation

Disclaimer: Names and wizarding places are property of JK Rowling, not me.

x-X-x

Chapter One: Preparation

Evelyn Reid's parents were not what one might call _close_; Her parents were both lawyers and though they worked in the same building for the same people to pay for the same house parties, they detested working together. Luckily for them, they did not have to work together in the upbringing of Evelyn. She was determinedly independent and emphatically indifferent to the multiple nannies who all seemed to forget to come back to work within a week or two of being hired. At the age of seven, Evelyn's last nanny wondered off after a record twenty-three minutes. Soon after having given up on finding a responsible adult to care for Evelyn, her parents forgot about her entirely.

Evelyn's mother, Stephanie Reid, knocked on the door to Evelyn's suite, which had originally been built as an extravagantly large guest 'room', for the first time ever one morning in late July. Evelyn, now a slight and feral seaming eleven-year-old girl with long, shiny black hair and dark green eyes, opened the door to see her mother standing next to a very small, very old man. In a very high-pitched, squeaky voice he introduced himself as Professor Parker, he looked worried and distracted as he suggested they sit down. Stephanie looked vacant as she always did when she was near her daughter. Evelyn led them both to a small rectangular table in an alcove next to the kitchenette.

"Would you like anything to drink, Professor? Mum?" Evelyn asked politely.

"No thank you Evelyn," said Professor Parker, squirming awkwardly and noisily in chair which was metal and had blue vinyl cushioning.

Evelyn's mother acted as if she had not heard Evelyn as Evelyn poured a large cup of water into a small stainless-steel kettle and set the kettle on the stovetop.

"So Evelyn," Parker said uncomfortably as Evelyn sat down across from him and her mother, "There the matter I came here to talk about, and another matter which, now that I am here, I feel I also need to address. " He paused as if waiting for her to egg him on or ask a question. When she did neither he continued, "Evelyn I come from a special school, and I would like to offer you a position at this school." He again waited for a comment that never came. She simply waited for him to elaborate. "The school I teach at is called Hogwarts. It is a school where young witches and wizards learn to hone their abilities, Evelyn, You are a witch."

With this, Evelyn's kettle began whistling insistently. She stood up slowly and walked over to the stove, turning off the electric burner and pouring the boiling water into a large, cylindrical mug. She had to climb onto the counter to reach the tea, and doing so she selected a box of green tea and slowly unwrapped the teabag. As she added copious amounts of sugar to her tea, she asked, "Would you please repeat that last bit?" Though she was sure she had heard him correctly.

He did so, and then, to prove it, turned her kettle into a turnip and back again with his wand. Her explained that this was transfiguration, one of the many kinds of magic she would learn at Hogwarts. He explained that though she was the daughter of two muggles she would one day be able to do magic like this, and then explained that muggles were 'non-magic folk.' Back on the topic of magic he said, "Transfiguration is the subject I teach," He explained, "In your first year at Hogwarts, you will also take a few other subjects, and you may continue these subjects and more through your seven years at Hogwarts. A full description of these subjects can be found in this," he said, handing her a thick envelope addressed to her. "But before I explain all that, I must draw you attention to another point. Before students come to Hogwarts they are not considered responsible for anything they may have unwittingly done with their magical skills. Very few witches and wizards under the age of eleven have any control over their magical abilities. You may recall times you were mysteriously saved from unpleasant situations, or when strange things happened when you were angry or upset. At young ages, magic usually comes out in brief bursts, but you magic seems to be a little more long-winded. Tell me, how long has your mother been like this?"

Evelyn looked genuinely puzzled before asking, "Like what?"

"How long has your mother been unaware of your existence?"

"She's plenty aware," Evelyn stated, still confused. This already odd conversation had taken a turn for the stranger. "Mum, go get my the sugar bowl." Her mother did so and sat back down complacently.

"I see," Parker said, looking even more distressed than he had before. "Evelyn."He started, and then stopped, thinking. Evelyn wished he would stop saying her name every other second. "Evelyn, your mother has had a memory charm of sorts placed on her, placed on her no doubt by you." Evelyn was about to interrupt when he continued, "I know you didn't mean to, but I do need to know when the last time your mother talked to you was. Not in direct response to a question or order I mean."

Evelyn's mind was reeling. It had never been an accident, and she knew it. She had kept journals since she had learned to write and she had vivid memories of her younger days. She knew when it started. But could she tell this professor person? Evelyn was not usually a cooperative child, but she had always been a strong believer in the truth, so after a few seconds of thought, she gave him a portion of truth. "Almost as long as I can remember," she said, squinting as if looking into her far past, "No, wait, I remember when." She waited for a few seconds, contorting her face into an expression of contemplation. "Seven, I think." She knew. The story was better acted out this way, she seemed more innocent; a victim of her own power. She considered telling him about all the nannies, but banished the idea in an instant. No need to be too truthful.

Professor Parker looked slightly disturbed. "I would usually report such an incident to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, and have the healers look into the state of your mother, but in this case I do not think there is anything to be done. Powerful memory charms, or those reinforced over years, cannot be broken without breaking the enchanted as well." This hung in the air ominously. "Do I assume correctly when I say your father is similarly affected?"

Evelyn nodded mutely.

"Well, while there is considerable damage to your relationship to your parents, which I fear will be one-way, forever more, I do not think you have caused any damage to the rest of their psyche. " He continued to frown and Evelyn knew that he wanted to be able to do something.

After a few seconds a voice broke the silence, "Almost noon, time to be off," it said shrilly. It seemed to be coming from Parker's coat pocket. He pulled a small silver pocket watch out of his pocket and seemed surprised by the time.

"Well I am quite sorry for arriving late and cutting our meeting short, but I do have a staff meeting to attend." He said apologetically. " I promise to answer all of the questions you have when next we meet which should be…." He thought for a moment "Tomorrow. I will meet you in London if that is okay with you, I hate traveling using muggle transport. You will need to bring money-muggle money will do- we can convert it a Gringotts." He wrote down the address of a place called 'The Leaky Cauldron'

"How much money should I bring? And what time are we meeting?" she asked.

"The morning would be better for me, how about nine o'clock?" She nodded. "Between books and supplies you'll need at least fifty galleons to start with if you don't want to buy anything second-hand. I would suggest you bring more if you want to buy more than just what's on your list. If you bring quite a bit we could open you a vault at Gringotts."

"What list, and what are galleons?"

"A galleon is the muggle equivalent of around 5 pounds- the list and other information is in your letter. Make sure one of your parents accompanies you to the Leaky cauldron, but leave them outside. Ask for Hannah, the bartender. I'll ask him to keep an eye on you." and with that, he was gone, leaving Evelyn in shocked silence.

"Out." She commanded her mother, who promptly left. Evelyn sat down to read her letter.

xxx

The Leaky Cauldron was a small-run down pub on an ordinary muggle street in London. Evelyn stepped out of her mother's sleek black car onto the cracked cement of the curb clutching the top of her nondescript black messenger bag that held the equivalent of two thousand galleons. In a few long strides she crossed the sidewalk and opened the door to the pub, waving her mother off impatiently. The Leaky Cauldron had the distinctive look of a place that has been decaying for many years now, but has been refurbished multiple times to slow down the condemnation. It was a brick building inside and out, but the bricks on the inside had been painted a sickly shade of pale yellow, presumably to bring some color into the dreary place. There were people, Evelyn assumed they were witches and wizards, sitting on an assortment of mismatched chairs at an equally mismatched multitude of coffee tables all along both walls. Evelyn navigated her way through the middle of these tables until she reached the bar, were sat a plump blond woman, cleaning under her fingernails with a toothpick.

"Are you Hannah?" Evelyn asked, seating herself on a low backed bar stool.

"Ah, you must be Evelyn, lovely to see you. Henry, I mean Professor Parker, should be here any moment. Care for some pumpkin juice?" Hannah replied in a friendly, conversational manner.

Evelyn had never even heard of pumpkin juice, but took a tall goblet of it anyway. She was pleased to discover that she liked it. As Evelyn was taking another sip of pumpkin juice, Professor Parker apperated quite near her, causing her to spill pumpkin juice all over the counter. She jumped back before any could trickle on to her long black tank top and jean leggings. As the thick liquid began spilling over the edges of the bar on both sides, Hannah took out her wand, vanishing the liquid with a flick of the thin wooden rod.

"Happens all the time," she said, as if afraid Evelyn would feel guilty. "Ah, Henry, good to see you," Hannah commented, turning to the man who had just appeared out of thin air.

A few minutes later Evelyn and Parker were walking through a backdoor into a small courtyard. Evelyn was astonished to see a large brick wall transform into a giant archway in reaction to the short tap with a wand Professor Parker had administered on one of the bricks. The archway lead onto a long cobble-stone alleyway bordered with magnificent shops of all colors, shapes, and sizes.

"First things first," said Parker walking down the road, "We need to get you some wizard money so that you get your supplies. You did bring money, didn't you?"

"Yes- and you said I could open a vault. I brought a lot of money to change."

"How much is a lot?" asked Professor Parker as they pushed through humongous bronze doors and then through slightly smaller silver ones.

"About two thousand galleons worth," Evelyn said, staring up at the high ceiling of the large marble building.

Parker looked surprised but did not comment, instead turning to a goblin behind a nearby desk. In a half hour's time Evelyn and Professor Parker were walking out of the bank. Evelyn's vault was about six feet high, four feet deep, and two feet wide. The ride down to it had been short in a fast but terrifyingly rickety cart. In it she stowed one thousand eight hundred galleons. Evelyn's bag, stuffed to bursting with two hundred galleons, clanked merrily at her side as she skipped down the steps leading out of the bank.

"Right, well then, you've read your letter and list of supplies I presume?" inquired Parker.

"Yes," said Evelyn, more enthusiastic than she had been in a long while. She had read the letter over and over again all night until, at around three in the morning, she had fallen asleep. "I was thinking that we should get my wand first, and then buy a trunk so I'll be able to manage all of my things."

"Right then, off we go."

They soon arrived at a small shop with wands displayed in the window. The sign out front read 'Olivander's' and under that, 'Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C.' in simple gold lettering. With all the bangs and puffs of smoke issuing from every other shop, it was the most non-descript store in Diagon Alley. They entered and were greeted by a young Woman who called herself Riko, not specifying whether this was a first or last name. With a swipe of her wand Riko set a tape measure to take a large number of seemingly random measurements including the space between Evelyn's eyes and the length of both her ears. When it had finished, Riko began pulling boxes of wands of the shelf, encouraging a perplexed Evelyn to wave them each in turn. Evelyn was becoming slightly dizzy from the persistant rotation of wands when finally, something happened. Heat shot up her arm and as she waved the wand, metallic sparks flew out of the end. Riko looked positively delighted. "This wand is quite unique, you should know. One might go so far as to call the core of wand… experimental." She let this sit for a moment before barking, "Hawthorn, eleven and a quarter inches, Jobberknoll feather core… just flexible enough, quite versatile. Nine galleons if you please young miss."

Though a little worried about accepting a wand described as 'experimental' Evelyn paid for her wand and thanked Riko. Evelyn stowed her wand safely in the bag with her galleons and set off to find a place where she could buy a trunk, Parker, looking thoroughly bored, followed.

After the trunk came the robes; she got the required three black ones as well an extra set and a pair of dress robes. She then purchased a black travel cloak with silver fastenings, a plain black pointed hat, and a tough green pair of dragon-hide gloves. After stuffing her purchases into her trunk she walked down the street, Professor Parker still in tow. The place interested her far more than the clothing store had. The walls were lined with high shelves filled with the most disguising looking items. The store keeper, knowing that she must be getting Hogwarts supplies, found a standard pewter cauldron, a set of crystal phials, a pair of brass scales, and an assortment of beginners potions equipment without even asking. In the store next door she purchased a large and shiny brass telescope in a velvet lined wooden case.

At last she walked down the street to Flourish and Blots, a large and grand looking bookstore. Though Evelyn had encountered many bookstores in the muggle world, but she was particularly looking forward to this part of purchasing school supplies. She had no idea what kind of world she was about to dive into, and that bothered her. Determined to immerse herself into the wizarding world as soon as possible, she planned to learn everything she could in the short month before school began. She wanted to thoroughly leave behind the world she had grown up in and learned to loathe so vehemently.

First found the required books. Evelyn had almost forgotten about parker when he made some comment about the transfiguration curriculum. She wondered if it was really necessary for him to follow her around like a little kid following his mum at the grocery store. She managed to shake him off in the transfiguration section, suggesting that he had better things to do; he seemed to agree. She bought loads of books, many on modern history; some on less modern history, more on magic that she was sure was far too advanced for her level, a few on wizarding games and sports, and some fiction. On her way to the register she also picked up a copper chess set, an exploding snap deck, and some gob stones. At the register she picked up about a half dozen magazines and a newspaper called 'The Daily Prophet.' Her purchases rang up to over one hundred galleons. Having decided not to bother looking for Parker, Evelyn exited Flourish and Blots and walked towards The Magical Menagerie. She was painfully aware of her too-full trunk and too-light messenger bag. Her curiosity for the objects inside the interesting stores surrounding her was like a giant itch that she could not scratch. She promised herself that she would come back soon, before school started; she didn't really need Parker to 'accompany' her.

She deeply wished that she could have more than one pet, but she had already decided on getting an owl. Though Evelyn didn't really have anyone to write letters too, she was intrigued by owls' usefulness as messengers. She ended up buying a beautiful golden tawny owl with a copper wire cage and some owl treats.

It took all of her willpower for Evelyn to find Parker and leave Diagon Alley without going back to Gringottts and withdrawing more money from her volt. He was still in the bookstore, and was mildly surprised to find her already ready to go. Afraid that he would say no, Evelyn didn't ask Parker whether it was okay for her to come back on her own. Saying a quick farewell, she left him in the leaky cauldron. Slightly disoriented by the sudden change to normal she flagged down a taxi and was glad that she had not been stupid enough to change he pocket money to galleons, as she had to bribe the driver to transport her all the way out of London and back home.

xxx

Over the next three weeks, Evelyn confined herself to a strict schedule. She would wake up after four or eight hours of sleep (she rotated the two, having four hours of sleep one night, eight the night after that, four the night after that, and so on) to eat cereal out of the box and drink Earl Gray with a stupendous amount of sugar while reading. She usually read an entry in _The_ _Encyclopedia of Modern Magical discoveries_ or _100 Famous Witches and Wizards _or some other exceedingly boring book that would have put her to sleep had it not been about magic. She would then take a quick shower, towel off, get dressed and carefully read a chapter of _The Standard Book of Spells: Grade 1_. She would then read a few chapters of one of the fiction books that she had bought until she felt it was time for lunch. Between lunch and dinner she would review the chapter of _The Standard Book of Spells_ and read and re-read a chapter from one of her other school books. After she ate dinner, which was always something microwaved, she reviewed the Standard book of spells chapter once more, before reading that day's daily prophet, and a few magazines, as she ha subscribed to some of the ones she had picked up at Flourish and Blots.

A week before school was to start, Evelyn decided to go to Diagon Alley once more. Having spent the past three weeks reading all about the wizarding world, she was eager to enter it once more feeling that she at least had a basic understanding of the place. Dropping pretence, she had emptied one of her mother's many bank accounts for her own future use as a witch. She considered taking some from her father to be fair, but Mr. Reid was not quite as good at his occupation as Mrs. Reid, and his accounts reflected that. She would have left home entirely and stayed at the Leaky Cauldron had all of her books been able to fit in her trunk with her clothing and suplies. She had told a few of her closer friends that she was going to boarding school, but didn't tell them where or why; when they asked, she hung up and ignored their calls. She felt thoroughly ready to leave the mundane world she had grown up in behind her.

When Evelyn had finished depositing a very large number of galleons in her volt, and quite a few in her trench coat pockets, she stood in the long alleyway, trying to decide where to start. After a few seconds contemplation, she headed toward the shop giving off the largest number of bangs and puffs of smoke. It was called Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes and it was a joke shop briefly mentioned in the 'Diagon Alley' chapter of _A Guide to Famous Magical Locations: United Kingdom_. Evelyn felt immediately at ease in the large, colorful store. With black hair, a pale face, and a black coat that looked perfectly normal in almost any other atmosphere, here she stood out, though she did not realize it. This place was full of children, not to mention adults, who were staring at all manner of objects like six-year-olds in a candy shop. She felt everyone was far too busy looking at all the things they were meant to look at to notice her. She was only made nervous by the fact that many of the people here probably went to Hogwarts as she would be. She noted all of this in the back of her mind, but at the forefront she was wondering how much she could possibly carry, and how much she could possibly fit in her trunk.

Half an hour later, Evelyn was still wandering around the store, picking things up and wanting to buy them, but knowing she simply did not have enough room. She was reaching for a box of canary creams, though really she thought she ought to get more practical things, when the door of the shop opened, admitting a very large number of redheads. She gaped openly as twelve people, half of them with non-red hair colors, crammed into the already packed store, and were greeted by a man Evelyn assumed was the owner, who was also a redhead. She dropped the creams back onto the display and moved closer to the group.

The owner was being greeted by the crowd; apparently the owner's name was George. Now very close to the group, Evelyn did not need to guess the names of the others. The adults of the crowd all had photographs in _Modern Magical History_, and the other people were their children. Evelyn could not remember all of the names, but she certainly remembered the name of Harry Potter. His story fascinated her. The whole wizarding world had been terrified of a single man who called himself 'Voldemort', and then this boy, who hadn't even completed high school, killed him. Not to mention Pottter's earlier history: when he was only one year old he had been partially responsible for Voldemort's going into hiding. The children had disbanded but Evelyn guessed that the Redhead next to Harry Potter was his wife. His wife was a Weasley, and though Evelyn could not remember the Woman's first name, her maiden name was enough. The Weasleys were an old wizarding family, they had only wizarding ancestors as far back as anyone could know; this meant that they were pure bloods. The children of the Weasley and Harry Potter were not purebloods, because Potter's mother had been muggle born like Evelyn. A very large number of the Weasleys had played a very large part in the final battle against Voldemort.

Evelyn's assessment was interrupted by a tap on the shoulder. Evelyn looked down, very far down, to see a young girl glaring up at her. "What do you think you're looking at?" the girl asked defensively.

"A ginger midget," Evelyn replied calmly.

Someone snorted and Evelyn looked up to see a boy with black hair grinning at them.

"James," the girl whined, "she was staring at mum and dad." As if the boy needed clarification as to who 'she' was, the girl pointed at Evelyn accusingly.

"Lily, if you keep confronting everyone who stares at our parents I'm going to put a full body bind curse on you next time we go anywhere."

The girl glared.

"I swear I will." Evelyn was fairly sure that James meant it.

"You're just attention starved," accused the girl.

"I find that I get a fair bit of attention myself."

"Then you're attention hungry."

"Not denying that one, there's nothing wrong with a spot of attention."

"We never get any privacy."

"Why don't you try dyeing your hair and coming out alone?" asked Evelyn antagonistically. She was a bit put out by being left out of the sibilings' bickering.

The girl glared again.

"Just a suggestion. Maybe stilts would help too." Evelyn said this matter-of-factly and then walked off to examine a variety pack of skiving snackboxes.

Evelyn picked up a few things she felt were necessary for educational purposes in the large 'Back to School' display. These things include a few skiving snackboxes, which she was sure would come in handy later in the year. She had just begun examining the specialty quills, as she had somehow forgotten to purchase any quills on her last visit to Diagon Alley, when the boy from before, James, came up behind her.

"Those never work for very long," James said, pointing at the spell-checking quill in her hand. "George tried making new models, but the spell just won't stick."

Evelyn put the quill back on the display, not saying anything.

"I'm James by the way," he said, swinging forward his arm as if to shake her hand, then, possibly deciding this looked stupid, he gave a sort of half-wave before finally running through his messy black hair awkwardly.

"Evelyn." Evelyn said. She was amused, though she didn't show it. Even at eleven, Evelyn was the kind of person who was extremely aware of their own attractiveness, and wore this knowledge like she had earned it. She was pretty, as eleven-year-olds go, and thin and tall. She always knew when a boy, and very occasionally a girl, _like _liked her, as eleven-year-olds called it. She was very good at reading people in general, though she herself appeared to be an unnaturally stoic child. She could thus read, rather easily, that James was not particularly used to feeling self-concious.

James swung his arms a few times before shoving his fists in the pockets of his jeans. Evelyn had noticed the odd mix of muggle and wizard clothing throughout the store. "Where do you go to school?" he finally asked.

"I'm going to Hogwarts."

"Realy?" he asked. Evelyn guessed he was surprised because she usually seemed older, being so tall. She was actually just noticing that she was a little taller than the boy.

"Yea."

"Oh…. Well I'm there now. It's great. My younger brother, Albus, and my cousin, Rose, are just starting too."

Evelyn nodded, not sure what to reply.

"Do you know what house you'll be in?"

"No idea," she realy truly didn't know. She liked to think she had a bit of all the qualities descried, not so much easy going loyalty as was asked of Hufflepuffs, but she thought she had the rest. There were brains, for Ravenclaw, Courage, for Gryfindor, and Cunning and the implied selfishness for Slytherin.

"You should be in Gryfinor, all my family has been, including me. My brother better get into Gryfindor and my cousin probably will, though she could easily be a Ravenclaw if she felt like it."

"If she felt like it? I didn't know it was a choice."

"Well it sort of is. A choice, I mean: if you really want to go to a particular house the sorting hat, that's the thingy that decides your house, will take your opinion into consideration."

"Were you considered for any house besides Gryfindor?"

"No." He answered too quickly.

"Really now?" She raised her eyebrows at him questioningly. Despite her slight interest in his denial, it was not a particularly thought-provoking conversation. She turned back to the quill display, decided to follow the boy's advice, and walked a few steps to her left, where models of magical animals were displayed. She examined a palm-sized griffin, and then an even smaller model Jobberknoll.

"Yea."

"My wand's made with this thing's feathers," Evelyn said, pointing at the Jobberknoll model. "Well, not the model's feathers, but a real Jobberknoll's feathers."

"Realy? I've never heard of a Joberknoll wand. Mine's core is dragon heartstring."

They lapsed into an awkward silence. The Jobberknoll model wasn't particularly interesting so she moved onto a unicorn model. The model nearly impaled Evelyn's had when she tried to pet it.

"They're supposed to like girls," James comented.

Evelyn shrugged and picked up a nice, friendly niffler.

"I want a real one of those. They love shiny stuff, can find it anywhere. Mum won't let me get one though; she says it'd tear the house apart. Probably would."

Evelyn put the niffler back, bored of it. She picked up a model Jarvey, which began cursing at her enthusiastically. "I think I like this one," Evelyn said, dropping it into her shopping basket.

"The phoenix model is the most interesting, but even though they're the most expensive they're almost always sold out."

Evelyn shrugged for what felt like the hundredth time and moved onto the next display, which was just more models: broomsticks. The next model display was of famous witches and wizards.

"Most of my family's in there," said James proudly. "Here's my dad," he said taking out a miniature Harry Potter, messy black hair, green eyes, and lightning shaped scar and all. "And my mum," He said, dropping the model of his father back in the bin labeled 'Harry Potter'. His mother's bin was labeled 'Ginny Weasley Potter' the model was an exact replica of the red-haired brown-eyed woman Evelyn had seen next to Harry.

Evelyn wasn't sure what to say, so she didn't say anything. Instead she exited the model section, not bothering to look at the rest, and moved to the candy displays. She wondered when James would stop following her around.

Just then, someone just entering the shop called James' name, and he ran off, mutter a quick "See you."

Happy to be alone again, Evelyn gawked at all the candy. Fire-breath fireballs, Chuckle Chews, Gumption Gumdrops, Tail Truffles, Bug-Eye Chewing Gum, Ton-Tongue Toffee, and so much more. Most types of candy, and there were at very least fifty types, came in 'Momentary', 'Temporary', and 'Semi-Permanent' varieties.

She must have been in the store for hours; when she came out, it was dark out. She had three very heavy shopping bags slung over her thin shoulder. There was so much more she wanted to see, but her time was limited. She opted to make only two more stops. The first was at Flourish and Blots, to purchase a few more books on topics she found interesting, and the second was at The Inkwell. There she first picked out twelve simple quills, a couple eagle, but the rest pheasant. She then found a very expensive quick quotes pheasant feather quill which was guaranteed to take down precise notes on whatever had been said, in the user's own handwriting, with optional underlining feature for emphatically spoken words. She found a variety of interesting journals, scrolls of parchment, and ribbons, along with a seal-making kit. She bought a few colors of ink, including glowing-in-the-dark, invisible, and color-changing, and then left the store. By the time she was done, it was very late. She had a week left to practice writing with her quills, review her schoolbooks, and decide what she could fit in her trunk. She hauled her purchases back into the muggle world and reluctantly hailed a taxi.

x-X-x

A/N: this chapter was originally three chapters (the chapter separations are pretty obviously marked by the Xs ) but I thought they meshed well as a single chapter so I combined them. As a result, this is probably the longest chapter I will ever write, unless I decide to combine more chapters later in the story. Please review and read on- come on, you just read over five thousand worlds and you have nothing to say about them?


	2. Chapter 2: The Train

Disclaimer: blah blah blah, not mine, whatever.

x-X-x

Chapter Two: The Train

Evelyn bit her lip. There was platform nine, plain as day in front of her, and there was platform ten, obviously next to it. Where was nine and three quarters though? She was early but she felt that there should surely be some magic folk around to direct the students. Parker should have said something. Was there a trapdoor perhaps? There had to be some sort of hidden passageway. Did she need a password? Damn Parker. She walked to the space she thought was around three quarters of the way to ten. She looked down. There were no trap doors that she could see. She felt along the barrier, and to her surprise, her hand pushed through. She smiled, proud of herself for working it out. She grabbed her trolly, which was holding her trunk, a full knapsack, and her owl's cage, and pulled it through the barrier with her.

She entered on to an ordinary platform with a sign reading 'Platform 9 ¾' over the entrance, which, on the muggle side, had been the barrier. The Hogwarts Express, the train that would take the students to Hogwarts, was at the platform. It was an hour before the train was scheduled to leave, but there were a few people besides Evelyn on the platform. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do now. She had been too excited to wait longer to leave home, but there was a whole hour before the train left the station. She supposed she ought to… she wasn't sure what she ought to do. Evelyn was not the type of person who made friends easily, and she would never approach a stranger willingly unless she had some solid question or request. Thus she decided to find herself a compartment and hope that someone else would find her. She managed to shove first her large trunk and then her knapsack and owl on to the train, leaving the trolley on the platform. She managed to drag her trunk, other items balanced precariously atop it, into the first compartment she saw, which was mercifully empty. She had entered near the back of the train, and she hope that other students would also choose to enter here rather than towards the front. She decided that she should probably read so as not to look like she was just _waiting_ here for someone to find her like an _idiot_.

Soon enough, Evelyn's reading of _Hogwarts, a History_ was interrupted by the sound of footsteps in the hall, but no one entered her compartment. The noices around her grew louder, people saying goodbyes and hellos on the platform, children dragging large trunks and chatting with friends, but it generally seemed distant. Maybe she should have stayed nearer the front of the train. Judging by Evelyn's watch it was fifteen minutes before the train was to leave that someone finally entered the compartment. The first person was a short, thin boy with sandy-blond hair. The second, at first glance, looked like a carbon copy of the first. The leader of the two hesitated when he saw Evelyn, but entered despite her presence. Not saying a word, the boys shoved their trunks onto the rack above their seats. There was a moment of silence after the boys sat down, before the first boy plucked up the courage to introduce himself.

"I'm Lorcan, Lorcan Scamander. And this is Lysander, my twin. We're first years, you?"

"Evelyn Reid, I'm a first year too," She hesitated, wanting to continue the conversation but not knowing how.

"Do you know what house you'll be sorted into then?" Lorcan asked. Why did everyone have to ask?

"Not really. I mean, I've read all about them but I'm just not sure which one… do you two know?"

"I reckon I might be in Ravenclaw, but Lorcan has his heart set on Gryfindor," Lysander said distantly.

"They're the two best houses." Lorcan said definitively. "They're home to the bravest and the smartest."

"Don't be so narrow minded, not all brave people end up in Gryfindor, take our mum, for example." Lysaner said defensively.

"Well yea, but she ended up in Ravenclaw, didn't she? Just proves that she was even smarter than she was brave," said Lorcan proudly. They seemed to have forgotten that Evelyn was there, resuming an old argument.

"Aren't Slytherins supposed to be cunning as well?" asked Evelyn.

"Psh, Slytherins," Lorcan said dismissively, as if Evelyn had suggested that flubberworms were attractive.

"They are. Cunning- but there is a fine line between cunning and wisdom. Intellect can mean good or bad, and in Slytherin, it has often been negative-"Lysander was interrupted by his brother.

"Rotten people- through and through."

" I was saying that it has happened, not that _everyone _who's ever been in that house was bad. Plenty of great witches and wizards have come out of Slytherin. There's not really such a large border between the people who originally enter Slytherin and Ravenclaw; it's the attitude of the house in general that can turn people bad. Personally, I think the house system creates problems and enemies, and doesn't do a spot of good." After this speech, the quiet-seeming boy sat in the corner and waited for the telling-off from his fuming twin.

"It's tradition! And It's a great one if you ask me-"

"Mind if we talk about something else?" asked Evelyn, not wanting to get in the middle of the argument, but not wanting to be left out. "What do your parents do? They're a witch and wizard, right?"

"Yea, they're both Magizooligists. What do your parents do?" said Lorcan. Evelyn could tell that in normal circumstances, he was the talker of the two.

"They're lawyers."

"Are you muggle born then?" asked Lorcan.

"yea-"

"Look! Albus!" Lorcan interrupted Evelyn's response, pointing out the window and hitting his brother on the arm.

"Ow," His broter said, more annoyed then hurt, "no need to hit."

"And over there! Look, Rose! Hugo too." Lorcan said, hitting his twin again for emphasis. He began banging on the window to try to get their attention. Lysander calmly reached over and unlocked the window, sliding the upper pane down a crack. "Oy!" Lorcan shouted, but no one noticed.

"Who's the red-head?" Evelyn asked, noticing the young girl she had called a ginger midget.

"Which one?" asked Lorcan?

"The littlest."

"That's Lily Potter, she's two years younger than us. I wish I could hear what they're saying." Lorcan said, as the potters, Ginny, Harry, Albus, and Lily, met another group of people.

Evelyn rummaged through her trunk, which she had yet to put on in the overhead rack due to the weight of the thing. The item she was looking for was near the top, in a bag of WWW merchandise. She slid the extendable ear out the window. The three bumped heads, each wanting to hear what was going on.

"He doesn't mean it," The two women were telling their children.

"Look who it is," said the tall, red-headed man, nodding towards a point that Evelyn couldn't see. "So that's little Scorpius. Make sure you beat him at every test, Rosie. Thank God you inherited your mother's brains."

"Ron, for heaven's sake," said the bushy-haired woman next to the tall man, "Don't try to turn them against each other before they've even started school!"

"You're right, sorry," said Ron. "Don't get _too _friendly with him though, Rosie. Granddad Weasley would never forgive you if you married a pure blood." Evelyn giggled. It was a strange snort-like noise; Evelyn was not prone to giggling.

"Do you really think we should be listening in?" asked Lysander nervously.

"SHHH" admonished Evelyn and Lorcan in unison.

"Hey!" came a shout in a familiar voice. Looking around the platform, Evelyn recognized James Potter from , "Teddy's back there, Just seen him! And guess what he's doing? _Snogging Victoire!" _ None of the adults looked particularly surprised. "_Our_ Teddy. _Teddy Lupin!_ Snogging _our _Victoire! _Our_ Cousin! And I asked Teddy what he was doing—"

"You interrupted them?" said Ginny. "You are _so_ like Ron—"

"—and he said he'd come to see her off!" James interrupted exuberantly. "And then he told me to go away. He's _snogging_ her!"

"Oh it would be lovely if they got married! Teddy would _really_ be part of the family then!" said the ginger midget.

"He already comes round for dinner about four times a week," said Harry, not really complaining, "Why don't we just invite him to live with us and have done with it?"

"Yeah! I don't mind sharing a room with Al—Teddy could have my room!" exclaimed James enthusiastically.

"No, you and Al will share a room only when I want the house demolished." Said Harry, now a little more serious. "It's nearly eleven, you'd better get on board."

"Don't forget to give Neville our love!" Ginny said, hugging James.

"Mum!" he replied, "I can't give a professor _love_!"

"But you know Neville—"

"Outside, yeah, but at school he's Professor Longbottom isn't he? I can't walk into Herbology and give him _love_…." Aiming a kick at his brother he said, "See you later, Al. Watch out for thestrals."

As James kissed his mother on the cheek and hugged his father, Albus said, "I thought they were invisible? _You said they were invisible!"_

Not waiting to see, or rather hear, what his parents would reply, the twins got up. "Let's ambush James before his friends get a hold of him," Lorcan said, Lysander nodded. Approving of their plan, Evelyn pulled the extendable ear back into their compartment and followed them into the now crowded corridor. The three managed to herd James into their compartment without talking as they could hardly be heard over the noise of the reuniting students.

"Hello there ickle firsties," James said.

"This is Evelyn," Lysander said politely.

"We've met," said Evelyn.

"Doing some spying?" James asked, noticing the fleshy string of the extendable ear, now coiled on what had been Evelyns seat.

"On you!" said Lorcan excitedly, "So, Teddy and Victoire!"

"Weird, isn't it?" said James

"Not really," said Lysander. They all looked at him, "Well it was kind of obvious, wasn't it?"

"Not really," replied his twin.

"It really wasn't," said James.

"Was too!" said Lysander.

"Two to one." Said James.

Lysander looked at Evelyn for support.

"You two," said Evelyn, waving vaguely at James and Lorcan, "aren't really the most observant lot so I'm going to go with Lysander and say it was obvious."

"You've known me for about ten minutes!" exclaimed Lorcan.

"It's a tie then," Said Lysander, "oh, look the slow pokes are finally getting on the train."

"The slow pokes?" Evelyn raised an eyebrow at the expression, but Lysander wasn't paying attention. The train started moving.

"Go get them," said James to the twins, taking a seat on Evelyn's side of the compartment.

Evelyn stuffed the extendable ear back in the trunk. "Help me up with this," she said to James as she heaved at her trunk. "The compartments already too full with our trunks laying around, let alone when more people get in." He helped her, getting up slowly as if it was a big sacrifice for him to get off his arse. "We better get yours up too," Evelyn said, lifting her owl's cage onto the rack as well.

"I'm not staying long," James said as they both sat back down.

"Why not," asked a red-haired girl, not the midget one, as she entered the compartment, dragging her things.

"Because I have _friends_ Rosie, not just cousins and siblings," James replied. The twins helped the red-headed Rose and the black-haired Albus put their trunks onto the overhead racks and they all sat down across from James and Evelyn, a little squished.

"We were just discussing," Lorcan said, "whether it was surprising that Teddy got together with Victoire."

"Not really" Said Rose and Albus in unison.

"Not really!" said Lorcan, sounding shocked.

"Told you so," said Evelyn.

"You don't even _know_ them!" replied Lorcan.

"James and Lorcan thought it was really unexpected, but Evelyn and I thought it was obvious." Explained Lysander to the confused Albus and Rose.

"Has she ever met either of them?" asked Rose.

"Nope." Replied Evelyn, annoyed at being referred to as if she wasn't in the compartment.

"Some of my friends have probably found a compartment by now," said James, standing up.

Just then, the compartment door opened, admitting a very pretty blonde girl. "James Sirius Potter!" said the girl in an angry half-shout.

"Uh-oh," said Lorcan, sounding excited rather than distressed.

"How _DARE _you!" Evelyn stifled a laugh. James looked at the girl silently, then took a fleeting look at his trunk.

"Sorry Victoire, gotta run," James said, taking off down the Hallway, leaving his trunk behind. The blonde followed him.

"And he calls himself a Gryfindor," said Lorcan, shaking his head.

"You're just disappointed that you didn't get to watch Victoire curse James' fingers off," said Lysander.

"Fair point," Lorcan conceded.

"I hope she doesn't do anything too horrible to him," said Rose, sounding worried.

"Me too, It'd kill me to have missed it," said Lorcan.

"Ditto," said Evelyn.

"James can hold his own in a fight," said Albus, a little defensive of his older brother.

"In a fair fight maybe, but he's only a second year and she's a seventh," said Rose.

"I really hope something else interesting happens during this trip, or this will have been such an anti-climactic start," said Evelyn, a little mournfully.

Unfortunately for Evelyn, nothing much interesting happened for the first part of the ride. They talked a little more about nothing in particular, speculating about what houses they would be in. Rose was positive that she would be in Gryfindor, and Albus also said that he would, though he seemed a little nervous about it. All a little apprehensive about their own futures, they turned the conversation to their parents. Evelyn was most interested when Lysander told her that his mother was the owner of _The Quibler,_ a popular monthly Magizooligy magazine to which Evelyn was subscribed. A little past noon, their compartment door was opened but a young woman who could hardly be long out of Hogwarts herself. "Um-" she said a little nervously, "Want anything to eat? Cart's out here in the corridor if you want to see what we've got." They all jumped up and rummaged in their trunks for money. Evelyn was eager to try everything on the cart, so she bought some of everything. She paid the woman fifteen silver sickles and four bronze knuts.

"This is mostly candy," said Evelyn, "How do they expect us not to puke?"

"I'm fine with it," said Rose, shoving a Caulron cake into her mouth. This sight alone made Evelyn feel slightly nauseous. By the way Albus was devouring his own cauldron cakes, he also approved of the cuisine.

"The pumpkin pasties aren't too sweet," said Lysander, helpfully picking one out of Evelyn's pile of purchases.

"I'll trade you a peanut butter and jelly for some of your black licorice wands," said Albus. Evelyn agreed, she didn't like black liquorice anyway. After eating the sandwich and a pastie, she felt much more hospitable towards the sweets. She unwrapped a chocolate frog. She was so surprised when it hopped in her hand that she dropped it.

"Don't let it get away!" said Albus, looking horrified at the prospect of losing good food.

There was a brief scuffle throughout the compartment before Rose said, "Caught it!" and bit off the frog's head.

"Rosie, you realise that things been all over the floor," said Lysander.

She shrugged.

"Is that a real frog?" Evelyn asked, wrinkling her nose.

"No, it's just magiced to hop," explained Albus, "they come with cards, check yours."

Evelyn looked down at the frog's packaging and removed a card. "Your dad really looks a lot like you," she said to Albus. She flipped the card over to show Albus the front, where his dad waved out at him. On the back, under the caption 'Harry Potter', there was a paragraph, which Evelyn skimmed. It read; 'Harry Potter is most famous for his defeat of the dark Lord Voldemort, know more commonly at the time as you-know-who, in 1998. Voldemort, considered by many to be the most powerful dark wizard ever known, had suffered many smaller defeats at the hands of Harry Potter since 1979, when Potter was one year old. He is now widely believed to be the best Aurour the Ministry of Magic has ever seen, including the famed 'Mad-Eye' Moody. Potter now lives with his wife and three children in Godricks Hollow, where he himself lived before the untimely death of his parents.' "Well that's a light-hearted collector's item," Evelyn said jokingly.

"Well there's not so much room on the card, so they couldn't fit in much of the happy stuff," said Rose. "There are cards for my mum and dad too," she added.

"And our mum and Albus's mum," said Lorcan.

"And about a dozen of our relatives," said Albus, "Rose's and mine I mean, we're cousin, but I think I said that already."

"You did," Said Evelyn. How many very famous people could fit in one generation?

"There are a lot of cards," said Lysander, noticing Evelyn's slightly perplexed expression.

"Do you think that we should look in on some other compartments?" asked Albus. "My mum says that the express's a great way to meet people."

"Did she? My mum said that everyone who met her on the express avoided her. She thinks she might not have made a very good first impression," said Rose.

"Even my dad and your dad?" asked Albus.

"Especially them," replied Rose, "they didn't really get a great start on the friendship thing."

"I think we should visit other compartments," said Lorcan.

Lysander and Evelyn looked to disagree, but they didn't say anything. Rose and Albus shared a look and Rose said, "We're in." Lysander and Evelyn followed the eager three out into the corridor. Evelyn reluctantly left quite a bit of uneaten candy behind. She did bring a box of assorted liquorice wands with her, as they seemed easiest to carry besides the suspicious looking every-flavour jelly beans.

They looked briefly through every compartment window until they came to one, about halfway down the train, in which Albus seemed to recognise someone. He reached down to open the compartment door. "No!" Rose hissed.

"But Kaleb's in there! And is that Mauve? I think her hair's gotten even frizzier since I last saw her."

"That is Kaleb, and Mauve's mum lost the recipe to the hair-care potion Mauve used to use, but _Gideon_ is there too!"

"No way," said Albus, looking again, "that git's in our year? Kill me now."

"He's something like our second cousin, we've only met him a few times but he's annoying as hell," Rose explained to the twins and Evelyn.

"Well I want to see Kaleb anyway, and I haven't spoken to Mauve in _ages_," Albus said, opening the door without further discussion.

"You've never heard of it? It's a fascinating subject—" a boy with curly red hair and big glasses was saying.

"I really think I should find Rachael—" said a frizzy-haired blonde also wearing glasses, though of a much more attractive variety,

"But I haven't even told you— Oh hello, nice to see you here," the redheaded boy said to Rose and Albus. Evelyn guessed that it was he who was their second cousin, Gideon.

"Yes, nice to see you," the frizzy haired girl said, seeing that Gideon was finally distracted, "Well I think I'll go look for Rachael," she said getting up and practically running to the door. "I'm Mauve Macmillan by the way," she said the twins and Evelyn waving as she practically sprinted down the hall.

"I better accompany her," a chubby, brown haired girl said, getting up and trotting after Mauve, "I'm Leah, nice to meet all of you," she said, though she had met none of them.

"Strange girls," said Gideon, "You know Rachael left the moment I came in, said she had to go to the bathroom but never got back."

"I wonder why," said the other boy in the compartment, he had to be the Kaleb Albus had mentioned, somehow managing to keep a straight face.

"Not to mention Mauve, she acted like I wasn't there for a while, she was talking to that Leah girl, and after I finally got her attention, she kept trying to go off and find Rachael!" said Gideon, sounding a little perplexed. "And then there's that girl," he said, pointing to a sandy blonde asleep in a corner, "Is she even alive?"

Everyone was ignoring Gideon by this point. Albus, Rose, and Lorcan had gone over to talk to Kaleb and Lysander had followed them. Evelyn sat down next to the sleeping girl and gave her a firm poke. The girl opened her blue eyes and looked at Evelyn. "And who are you?" the girl asked.

"Evelyn, and you?"

"Samantha Gray."

"You're a first year?"

"Yes. And you?"

"Uh-huh."

"Can I have one?" Samantha asked, waving at the liquorice wands Evelyn had forgotten she was holding.

"Sure." Evelyn said, holding out the box. Samantha selected an electric blue wand and bit a peace off the end.

"What house do you think you'll be in?" Evelyn wondered why everyone asked that question.

"Not sure."

"I think I might be in Slytherin, I know it has a bad reputation, but really being cunning isn't a bad thing and everyone's a little self-serving. Most people just try to hide it. I wouldn't _really _mind being in another house though, so long as it's not Hufflepuff."

"Whats wrong with Hufflepuff?"

"Nothing really, It's just that in the beginning, when the four founders were picking houses, Hufflepuff was where the people who aren't picked by the other three went. Nowadays The hat says it put in 'loyal' and 'hardworking' people, and I'm sure it does, but I figure that's also were the people who aren't smart or brave enough for the other houses go."

"Is everyone in the other houses smart or brave then?" Evelyn asked a little nervously.

"Merlin no, well I think all the Ravenclaws have to have some sense, and the Gryfindors can't be complete cowards, but not everyone in Slytherin is as cunning as they are supposed to be, according to my mother anyway. She says a lot of Slytherin is made up of stupid people looking for power; either for themselves or in someone else, to hide behind."

"Then why do you want to go? I hear that the sorting hat sometimes lets you pick."

"My mother went there, for one. Also, I think the traits fit. I hate how people can be put into houses when they might _really_ belong in others."

"You don't put much stock in personal choices."

"No, I guess I don't. Want to leave? It's so damn crowded in here."

Evelyn glanced at Lysander. Despite the close quarters, the five other people, even including annoying Gideon, seemed not to notice the two girls. "Sure."

Samantha led Evelyn further down the corridor, looking through windows as Albus had. A few compartments down she found a compartment that seemed to be to her liking. There were four people in the compartment, two boys and two girls. One girl was reclining across her side of the compartment but moved her legs to make room for Evelyn and Samantha. "This is Evelyn," Samantha said to the compartment at large. "This is Naiomi Marsh," she said, pointing to the girl next to them, "And Ellaora Max, and Scorpius Malfoy, and Michael Flint." Said Samantha, "A lot of M names," she commented. Evelyn recognised the name Scorpius from her spying before the train left.

"I was wondering where you got off to," said Naiomi.

"I was sleeping in a compartment further back, but Evelyn came and woke me up, so I thought I'd come looking for some familiar faces."

"See Scorpius? I told you I needed to save her a seat."

"You had no way of knowing she was coming. She could have been with Cyngus or something," replied Scorpius.

"Had I been with Cyngus, I would have come sooner." Said Samantha, "Actually, I think who I was with was even more annoying, but as I said, I was sleeping."

"Cyngus Isn't annoying," said Elladora defiantly.

Flint snorted, "Just like _you're_ not annoying Elladora." Elladora stomped out of the compartment, insulted. "Finally! I've been trying to do that all afternoon!"

"Really?" asked Scorpius, "I hadn't noticed that you were being more obnoxious than usual."

"Me neither," agreed Niaomi.

"You can't blame me for being honest!" said Flint. The other three nodded, apparently agreeing on this point. Flint turned to Evelyn, "Are you muggle-born? I don't think I've ever heard of you."

"Yes," Evelyn said shortly, reaching for a liquorice wand. She pulled out an orange one, and offered them to the other occupants of the compartment. The students talked for a while about houses, a subject that was quickly getting old. Scorpius and Michael Flint both wanted to be Slytherins, but Naiomi said she didn't care either way. As if there were only two topics in the whole universe, the conversation then moved to parents. Evelyn mostly kept quiet, as she didn't have much to say on either topic. After a while, someone poked their head through the door, it was an older girl.

"We'll be there in about half an hour, go back to whatever compartment you started in and change into your school robes and get your stuff together," she said, and left.

"She's probably a prefect," Samantha explained. She groaned, "Great, now I'll have to go back to that compartment and hear that idiot Prewett talk like someone's listening."

"Prewett! _Gideon_ Prewett! You managed to sleep through _that_," exclaimed Niaomi.

Evelyn waved goodbye to the aspiring Slytherins and made her way back to her original compartment. When she got there she found the four other occupants standing around awkwardly, all holding their robes. "Why are you all just standing around?" Evelyn asked as she stood on tiptoes, opening her trunk and sliding out a black robe.

"How are we supposed to put the robes on?" asked Albus.

"Over your head," said Evelyn, not getting the point.

"He means with all these other people here," clarified Rose.

"Like this," said Evelyn. She pulled the Robe on over her clothes then took off her shirt while under it, and pulled her head out the top, manoeuvring her shirt out of an armhole. She opted to keep her capri-cut leggings on under her robes. James had come into the compartment, having left his own trunk there while escaping Victoire's wrath, and was now looking slightly embarrassed. Evelyn couldn't really work out why, seeing as less of her had been showing while she was changing then when she was fully clothed.

"How did you do that?" asked Rose, sounding slightly awed.

"Magic," replied Evelyn, gathering her candy from the seat and shoving it in her trunk.

x-X-x

A/N: Whadya know? I managed to write this super-long chapter all in one. Well actually, I wrote it in about four long sittings, but still. Have any questions so far? Comment any and I'll reply. Next I'm going to write the ride to the school and the sorting.


	3. Chapter 3: The sorting

Disclaimer: I'm not JKR

x-X-x

Chapter 3: The sorting

"First years, over here," called a voice. Evelyn walked towards a humongous man in a slightly furry looking overcoat. Albus, Rose, and the twins all waved at the man enthusiastically. The man led all of the first years down a dark, narrow path.

"Look!" said someone, and everyone looked and gasped. Towering above them, illuminated from behind by the moon, stood a vast castle. A girl walked into Evelyn, as Evelyn had stopped and the girl had stopped looking where she was going. Everyone was awed by the magnificent turrets and towers of the thing.

After a few seconds more walking, they came upon a small fleet of boats docked on the shore of a lake. "Into the boats, no more 'n four to a boat mind," said the man. Evelyn quickly followed the twins in to a boat. Albus and Rose thus had to find another one, ending up with Gideon and a girl Evelyn didn't know. The twins and Evelyn had their boat to themselves. "Everyone in?" asked the man, "Right then, off we go."

The small fleet of boats took off across the lake of their own accord, presently coming to a wall of Ivy, which they sailed through. They were under the cliff face, practically under the castle its self. The tunnel the boats were going through was illuminate only by the lanterns on the boats, but Evelyn could just see a rock harbour ahead. She was a little disappointed that no one had fallen into the calm water. Just as she was thinking this, someone did. Evelyn had not seen what had happened but she turned around as she heard the splash. The head of the boy who had just fallen in was coming up out of the water next to a rocking boat. Someone must have tipped it. She recognised one of the other two students in the boat as Elladora Max, who had been offended in the train. She and the boy in the boat were gripping the sides of the boat- they had been lucky enough to stay seated. Evelyn recognised the boy who had fallen in as Scorpius Malfoy. She watched and laughed with a few other students as he dog-paddled his way to shore, not bothering trying to get back in his boat. Evelyn wondered if he had fallen or been pushed.

"That's all right then," said the man, clambering out of his own boat onto the rock harbor, "er- we'll get you fixed up at the castle then. Come all along, all yer." They followed the man up through a passageway in the rock and to a giant oak door. The man knocked.

The door was opened by a plump, friendly looking man. "Ah, these are the new first years I take it. Thank you Hagrid," then noticing Scorpius he said, "I see someone fell in the lake." Scorpius blushed and some of the students laughed as Scorpius was dried with a flick of the plump man's wand. "Follow me."

The man led them into the entrance hall of the castle. The entrance hall was a vast, stone walled, and high ceilinged. A large marble staircase was directly in front of them. The distinct hum of children talking and laughing was coming from a doorway to the first years' right. Rather than leading them through this doorway, the plump man led them into a small room off the hall.

"Welcome to Hogwarts, I am Proffesor Longbottom," the plump man began, "The sorting, followed by the start of term banquet, will start soon, but first I would like to have a quick word with all of you. As you all no doubt know by now, you will all be sorted into one of four different houses. The houses are Gryfindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin; they are equal but quite different. You will eat at your house table in the great hall, and sleep in your house dormitory. You will spend a great deal of your free time in your house common room, a place where **only** members of your house are allowed. Accomplishments will gain you house points, but any misadventures will lose house points. At the end of the school year the house with the most points is awarded the house cup. Any questions?" No one seemed to have any. "Okay then, follow me."

Proffesor Longbottom led them out of the room, back into the entrance hall, and through the doorway leading to the great hall, where all the other students were. The first years followed like shadows. They all looked up in awe as they entered the great hall, there were four long house tables with shining golden cutlery and all this was illuminated by candles suspended in mid air. This was magnificent enough but even farther above them, the sky stretched out, clear and starry. Evelyn had read about this sky, or rather, ceiling, in _Hogwarts; a History_- the ceiling was bewitched to look like the sky outside. Proffesor Longbottom led them up to a fifth table, where the teachers were, and came to a stop by a very ragged hat on a stool. Evelyn couldn't look out at the rest of the school, but she heard when they went silent. A tear in the hat on the stool opened like a mouth. The hat began to sing;

At first glance I am a mere hat,

Seeming tattered to untrained eyes,

But I am none the worse for wear,

I sort just as in years gone by.

For years and years and years gone by,

I have looked into your young minds,

Finding where you truly belong.

You may belong in Gryfindor,

Where the most gallant find their place,

Gryfindors are spirit and nerve.

You may belong in Hufflepuff,

Where the diligent find their home,

With kind hearts these folk will endure.

You may belong in Ravenclaw,

Where dwell those students of swift wit,

Learning is most prised in this house.

You may belong in Slytherin,

Where the slyest may find a place,

In the end these schemers go far.

So try me on, no need to fear,

For I am never mistaken.

[A/N: the first version of the song I wrote rhymed. There is a good reason this one didn't. Trust me, if you think this one was bad you do not want to know how much of a fail the first one was. I did give you some iambic pentameter though!]

The hall burst into applause, then fell silent. Professor Longbottom stepped forward and said, "When I call your name, sit on the stool and put on the hat. And be sure not to take it with you when you get up again. Andrews, Leah"

The girl who had half-introduced herself on the train walked to the stool and sat down, putting on the hat. The hat slid over her head, down past her nose. She was visibly quivering. The hat took a few moments to decide before shouting "Hufflepuff!," to the hall at large. The table on the right arrupted in cheers as Leah scampered off to join her new house. A girl called 'Boot, Rachael' was sorted into Gryfindor and a boy called 'Cear, Cyngus' was put into Slytherin- Evelyn assumed he was the one mentioned on the train. 'Carpenter, Lorelei' was sorted into Hufflepuff. Evelyn began to tune out the noise of the hall as 'Day, Drea' was sorted into Gryfindor. Evelyn had never been this nervous before in her life. Where would she go? Evelyn only barely noticed as 'Gray, Samantha' was sorted into Slytherin. Where did she want to go? Did it really matter as much as everyone seemed to think it mattered? Of course it did. She paid a little more attention when she heard 'Macmillan, Mauve' sorted into Hufflepuff, the Rs were fast approaching. 'Maddox, Brody' was sorted into Hufflepuff as well, followed by 'Malfoy, Scorpius' being sorted into Slytherin, 'Marcus, Liam' being sorted into Hufflepuff, 'Marsh, Naiomi' being sorted into Ravenclaw and finally 'Max, Elladora' being sorted into Slytherin. How could such a large percentage of her year have surnames beginning with Ma? During the sorting of the M-As (as she now thought of them) she had noticed the great differences in the time it took for the hat to decide. Cyngus, Drea, Brody, and Elladors's sorting had taken less than five seconds, but the others had taken anywhere from twenty (Leah) to over a minute (Mauve and Scorpius). 'Payton, Olivia' was sorted into Ravenclaw, 'Potter, Albus' was sorted into Gryfindor (this got one of the loudest cheers yet), followed by 'Prewett, Gideon' being sorted into Gryfindor as well (this got a few boos). Evelyn's nerves were on edge for the first time she could remember as 'Rainee, Mellonie' was sorted in to Gryfindor.

"Reid, Evelyn," called professor longbottom. The walk to the hat felt like it took hours, though it took not more than a second. She sat down, lifting the hat onto her head. It slid down over her head, warm and dark. She kicked the legs of the stool nervously. "Interesting, quite interesting," said a quiet voice in Evelyn's ear. "Very bright, quite a bit of nerve, plenty of self-interest, quite some ability in here too... hard to decide." Evelyn didn't reply. She didn't want to interfere. She had no idea where she belonged. "Even a bit of Loyalty in here somewhere, but much less pronounced. I would say Gryfindor or Slytherin. Ravenclaw would fit too- but perhaps not quite as well..." The hat was taking an awfully long time to decide, in Evelyn's opinion. After another second or two the hat announced, "Slytherin!" out loud. Evelyn got up and confidently made her way over to the Slytherin table. She resisted looking over to the Gryfindor table to see whether there was any reaction from James or Albus. She didn't look towards the unsorted students either. She wasn't sure how these people would react, but she was most afraid that they would have no reaction at all. It was not like Evelyn to accept not knowing something she wanted to know, but this circumstance seemed to be special.

Samantha smiled at her as Evelyn sat down, but not in a particularly friendly manner. Evelyn thought she knew why; Samantha had no way of knowing that Evelyn was muggle born when she had befriended her on the train. Seeing Evelyn come in with the twins and the cousins, all half-bloods, Samantha had probably assumed that Evelyn had know the four before the train ride and thus that she too was half-bood. It wasn't that Samantha was hostile or anything, she was just... cold. This did not make Evelyn regret being placed in Slytherin, in fact, it had quite the opposite effect. Somewhere, deep inside Evelyn, there was anger at Samathas shunning, but that was far under the surface. Closer to the surface lay Evelyn's unquenchable thirst to prove herself. She was eager to prove herself better than this girl, whose mannerisms had changed so much with the mention of Evelyn's ancestry. And it wasn't just Samantha either; it was the whole school Evelyn wanted to prove it to. Exactly what 'it' was, Evelyn wasn't sure.

Evelyn didn't pay much attention the rest of the sorting, but she did note the Weasley girl's placement in Gryfindor, Lysanders placement in Ravenclaw, and Lorcan's in Gryfindor, all as predicted. When the sorting was over she heard an older Slytherin, probably a fifth or sixth year, say, "Only twenty-nine this year. Must be an all time low."

His friend replied, "I don't think it's the lowest, but that's certainly not very many."

Just then, a severe looking woman at the center of the staff table got up. "I know that you are all hungry, so I will save my speech until after we have all had a bite to eat. I would just like to say welcome to Hogwarts, and enjoy." With this, she sat down and the empty golden platters stretched across all five tables filled with far more than 'a bite' of food.

As they ate, they talked, though the conversation was not quite as exuberant as at the other tables. All the Slytherin first years sat down next to each other at their long house table, though Evelyn noticed that at other tables the years were dispersed amongst the elder students. Evelyn found that there were three other Slytherin girls in her year, there where Samantha Gray and Elladora Max, both of whom she already met and now discovered were a half blood and a pure blood respectively, as well as a new girl, a half blood, named Leanna Serean. Evelyn did not like Leanna much more than the other two, though Leanna was friendlier than either. The four Slytherin boys were Scorpius Malfoy, Michael Flint, the infamous Cyngus Cear, and Joseph Hawkins. Malfoy and Flint were both pure bloods and the other two were half. Evelyn was getting used to telling people she was muggle born, but it annoyed her that everyone acted as if she had said nothing, when she saw in their eyes that this meant something to them. Leanna told Evelyn that, according to her sister, a muggle-born Slytherin comes along once every few years.

Everyone seemed quite interested in each other's blood lines, for the first few minutes of conversation at least. Evelyn was interested in where blood placed the individual Sytherins in their 'group'. She observed the group as they talked. Michael Flint seemed to rise to the leader position among the boys, though Malfoy was also a pure blood. Hawkins seemed level with Malfoy, though he had more muggle in him than Cyngus, according to their discussion of the matter. Cyngus was the underdog, he was often scorned by the lofty Flint and ignored by the other two, but he still seemed to follow their lead. He mostly paired with Elladora, who, Evelyn thought was his cousin, or second cousin, or something of that sort. The girls were more divided. Leanna seemed to have attached herself to Samantha. Seeing this behaviour, Evelyn vowed to separate herself from both of them. Elladora seemed to lead Cyngus, and follow both Samantha and Flint. Samantha seemed to have risen above her half-blood status to a position only slightly above Flint. It was all quite hard to discern, but after observing the group's interaction for a few minutes, Evelyn was pretty sure that she had gotten it. She did not yet know where she would stand, for at the moment she was on the outside. She did not have much of a problem with this at the moment, but she knew she would have to prove herself to them for them to realize that she had chosen to alienate herself from them, and that the situation was not the other way around.

x-X-x

A/N: I could go on for ages about each of my house choices, even for the students who I've yet to mention in this story (I have pages and pages of notes) but I will confine myself to the most significant reasons Evelyn is placed in Slytherin: She is dishonest when it suits her, she is not afraid to break rules, she does not have a golden moral code, she seeks power, she puts herself first, and she covets magic. This last one is significant in placing her in Slytherin because Slytherin house is so closed to the nonmagic world; Evelyn might feel that this house is as far away as she can get from the world she came from. Also, I made the group size so small because I want to introduce every character in her year, and I don't want to get into too many boring rambly sub-plots. The original grade I drew (I sketched them all) had more, but I tweaked it.

Please Reveiw!


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